In teaching generally, and particularly in teaching technical subjects, a continuing problem has been that of providing the student with meaningful exposure to equipment involved in the subject being taught. This is particularly true when the subject involves electrical devices and the manner of their proper use, since the appearance of the device may differ remarkably from what is shown in schematic diagrams used to illustrate the principles of operation and the manner of use of such devices. Thus, the student must learn not only what is shown in schematic diagrams but also how such diagrams relate to the actual devices. To accomplish this, it is frequently desirable to transport one or more actual devices, the appropriate schematic diagrams and test materials to a classroom, laboratory or other place where students are to be taught. Particularly when more than one device is involved, it is advantageous to arrange all portions of the lesson material in an organized fashion, and prior-art workers have provided educational kits including both an electrical device and a schematic diagram appropriate for the device, both mounted on a support member, U.S. Pat. No. 2,208,503 Manuel and U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,245 Mueche being typical of such prior-art devices.
Providing an educational kit for use in training students to understand and properly use electrical devices, particularly motors, appears to have presented particular difficulties in the prior art. Teaching aids for such purposes have been proposed, as seen for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 603,875 Crowell, 742,408 Evans et al, 3,310,886 Tudor and 4,127,785 Noguchi, but such prior-art devices have been cumbersome and difficult to transport, particularly when more than one device is to be exhibited so that, e.g., two devices and two sets of related materials must be handled. In an effort to overcome such deficiencies, it has been proposed to place the electrical device and related materials in a single container, as seen for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,043,022 Crews et and 4,006,538 Valentine, and such proposals have offered improvement in the case of relatively small devices and materials. There has been a continuing need for improvement in such teaching aids when relatively large and heavy electircal devices are employed, especially when it is appropriate to deal with two such devices in a single session.